While Toshiba unveils a 7mm hybrid hard drive/solid-state drive, Samsung launches the first PCI Express-based SSDs for ultra-thin PC notebooks, the same one found in new versions of Apple's MacBook Air.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch is attractive and solidly built, with an excellent touchscreen and a great keyboard. However, we'd like to see more ports and a removable battery at the very least. As it stands, this ultrabook is too expensive for widespread deployment.

The EliteBook Folio 9470m is a well-made ultrabook with a particularly good keyboard and touchpad. We like the removable battery and optional battery slice, but would prefer a higher screen resolution across the range. Windows 8 fans will also note the absence of a touchscreen option.